Sex Dos & Don'ts: Vintage Sex Ed Films of the 1950s

As the 1950s dawned, the same stalwarts that beat the Axis Powers in World War II faced a new threat: teenagers. The raging hormones and blossoming bodies of the young generation made their parents decidedly uncomfortable. Why couldn't they just keep it in their pants like they did? To combat these unholy urges, parents, teachers, clergy, doctors, scientists, and the local bridge club joined forces to create the "sex education" film. These 16mm movies would be shown in classrooms to keep students from procreating like rabbits. Films like How Much Affection? showed kids first-hand the shame and alienation that would greet them if they fell victim to the great scourge of teenage pregnancy. And Dating Do's and Don'ts and Beginning to Date encouraged bizarre, Vulcan-like mating rituals that kept many baby boomers in therapy for years. But it's not just heterosexual sex they had to be wary of. Homophobia abounds in Boys Beware, which warns us about getting in cars with "the homosexual, a person who demands an intimate relationship with members of their own sex." They even buy you presents and give you money! When you get done with this nostalgic collection, you'll be amazed that anyone had sex at all in the 1950s!

• Human Reproduction (1947)
• Dating Do's and Don'ts (1949)
• Don't Talk to Strangers (1950)
• How to Say No: Moral Maturity (1951)
• Beginning to Date (1953)
• Your Body During Adolescence (1955)
• How Much Affection? (1958)
• Boys Beware (1961)